The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith

The author of this eBook contacted me a while back and requested that I read and review his book.

I feel like I need to give a disclaimer first, and that is that I am not really a fan of this genre (adult fairy tale). My honest feeling about it, therefore, probably does not reflect what fans of this genre would say.

Reflections of Queen Snow White is the sequel to Snow White – really, a hybrid version of the original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm and Disney’s Snow White – as imagined by David Meredith. In this sequel, Snow White is around the age of 50, and her husband King Charming has died. Snow White is depressed and can’t seem to shake the dark cloud of despair following her day and night. Happily ever after has not turned out to be so happy after all.

One day, while wandering the castle in her funk, she makes her way up a long-forgotten staircase into a dusty room where she finds the Magic Mirror. The mirror turns out to be something like a tough-love shrink, and upon gazing into it, Snow White experiences flashbacks, so that we, the reader, relive parts of the original Snow White story through the eyes of the author. These flashbacks help Snow White realize that life is worth living after all, even without Charming . . . and they all live happily ever after.

It’s a well-written story, with lots of rich prose in true fairy tale style, although there are numerous typos which are a little distracting. I found it creepy that at the time of their marriage, Snow White was 16 and Charming almost 30 – can you say “pedophile”? I mean, I realize that the story takes place in a bygone era when that sort of thing was probably common, but I guess I feel like the author still could have chosen a more appropriate age difference in line with modern times, if only not to skeeve his readers out. There is also a questionable scene wherein Snow White, recovering from eating the poison apple, lets loose a flood of diarrhea and Prince Charming not only holds the chamber pot for her, but cleans her up. Ummm … okay.

Still, there is definitely a niche for this sort of story. Fans of adult fairy tales and cheesy romance novels will enjoy.

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“When I get a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes.” — Erasmus

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.” – Franz Kafka

I'm Lisa. Mother of seven. Wife. Writer. Reader. Books are my vice.

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